Process of decorating ceramic ware



Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE No Drawing. Application March 25, 1937, Serial No. 133,038

3 Ciairns.

This invention relates to a process whereby gold, silver and other metals or ceramic colors, can be applied to pottery, glass, chinaware and the like.

The usual method of applying gold, for example, is with a small brush with which the gold is traced on the raise or modeling paste after the paste has been fired. Naturally this has taken a long time, especially in those cases where an intricate design is to be displayed.

An object of the present invention is to improve upon the methods heretofore used so that the work is greatly expedited, it being possible to do in less than five minutes work which heretofore has required four or five hours by the old methods.

In carrying out the present method the design is produced on the ceramic or glass article with raise or modeling paste such as is commonly employed. These pastes can be purchased in the open market. One of those which has been used advantageously is known as Hancocks Raise Paste for Coin Gold. It is well known to those skilled in the art that after the paste is fired it becomes quite porous. Therefore, in the present method, following the firing of the article on which the design has been displayed with paste, a coating of suitable oil, such as balsam of copaiba, is applied to the article and this will be absorbed by the paste. Excess oil is wiped off with a cloth and thereafter the article is scrubbed with soap or other suitable material and cold water so as to remove any oily residue. The article is subsequently dried and following the drying operation, portions of the oil which had been retained in the pores of the fired paste, will exude or sweat out. Bowdered gold is then dusted onto the paste with cotton or other suitable material and will adhere to the oil. The article is then fired and the gold will be baked to the paste where it is adhering thereto, .thus completing the process.

Inasmuch as the use of a brush is entirely eliminated, the work of applying the decoration is materially lessened with a corresponding reduction in time required.

While it is preferred to use oil of copaiba in carrying out this process, other liquids such as balsam of fir, oil of turpentine, Stockholm tar and other suitable substances can be used.

What is claimed is:

1. The herein described method of decorating 5 ceramic ware, glassware and the like with a colored design in relief which includes the step of applying raise or modeling paste to the article to form the design to be produced, firing the article to fuse the paste to the article and to render the 10 paste porous, applying balsam of copaiba to the article for absorption solely by the porous fired paste and then drying the article, thereafter applying powdered metal to the article where it will be engaged and retained solely. by balsam of 15 copaiba sweating from the fused paste, and finally baking the article.

2. The herein described method of forming ceramic ware, glassware and the like with a colored design in relief which includes the step of 20 applying a raise or modeling paste to the article to produce the desired design, firing the article to fuse the paste to the article and render the paste porous, applying oil to the article for absorption solely by the fired porous paste, wash- 25 ing the article and drying it, thereafter applying powdered material to the fused paste where it will be engaged and retained solely by oil sweating from the paste, and finally baking the article.

3. The herein described method of forming ce- 3O ramic ware, glassware and the like with a design in relief and colored, which includes the step of applying raise or modeling paste to the article to form the design to be produced, firing the article tofuse the paste to the article 35 and to render the paste porous, applying an oily substance to the article for absorption solely by the porous fired paste, washing the article and drying it thereby to retain oil solely in the porous fired paste, thereafter applying powdered metal 40 to the article, the retained oily substance in the fired porous paste constituting means for exuding from the paste for engaging and retaining the powdered metal applied thereto, and finally baking the article to fuse the retained metal to 45 the oil-absorbing portion.

JOSEPH WILLIAM DAVIES. 

